


You Understand

by allislaughter



Category: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Genre: Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, POV Third Person, Post-Canon, Present Tense, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 00:52:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18981829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allislaughter/pseuds/allislaughter
Summary: A short fic made by a prompt request on Tumblr. XR and Ty are stuck together waiting for help, and the two of them have a talk about the things they've both dealt with.





	You Understand

“Why are you helping me?” Ty asks as the robot not even half his size tries to carry him and his twisted ankle to the nearest medical aid.

“Beats me,” XR grumbles, clearly displeased with himself. “Must be some sorta ‘no ranger left behind’ protocols. You ever thought about losing a few pounds, buddy?”

“Oh, haha,  _ hilarious _ .” Ty winces as XR drags him over a particularly rough bump in the ground. “Really, the others should be nearby. You could just call them to carry me and save both of us the trouble.”

“Nnnngggcan’t. Communications are down and last I checked, they’re too far away to yell for help.”

“You sound like...?”

“What?” XR demands. “Like I’m the one who accidentally knocked out communications?” He laughs, though it’s obviously forced. “Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Oh. Alright, alright, stop. Stop right here.” Ty waits for XR to pause a moment, and he pulls away to prop himself up against a tree. “Okay, rookie, we’re going to play a game.”

XR blinks. “Not that I’m against the idea, but isn’t this a bad place to play a game?”

“We’re going to play a game of ‘wait in one place instead of dragging me and injuring me more until help arrives or communications come back online so we can call for help.’”

“Ugh. The  _ boring _ game. I’d go for a game of cards personally.”

“Are you always like this?” Ty asks. “Is this the kind of thing Team Lightyear deals with on a regular basis? A sarcastic, immoral robot, a princess that’s tries too hard to prove she can be more than a princess, a farmhand who is too ignorant and idolizes heroes too much for his own good, and Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes-Thinks-He’s-Better-Than-Everyone himself?”

XR crosses his arms. “Oh yeah? And what about  _ you? _ Ty Parsec, the bitter damsel in distress who has to be saved by Buzz Lightyear 50 times over and turns into a  _ monster _ every time there’s a glowing green moon rock around? As if  _ you’re _ hot stuff.”

“You think I  _ asked _ for any of that?” Ty snaps in turn. “Half those times Buzz ‘saved’ me, I could have saved myself if he hadn’t jumped in to be the hero. The only reason I got bitten by NOS-4-A2 in the first place was trying to stop him from eating  _ you _ .”

“And what good did that do?” XR asks, waving his arms in frustration. “You  _ tore me apart! _ ”

“I wasn’t in control of myself!” Ty argues. “I never wanted to be a monster, and I definitely didn’t want to be used to nearly curse the entire galaxy to the same fate.” He shakes his head. “If I knew what I was doing at the time, I never would have attacked you or anyone else on Canis Lunis. I still remember the way you taste, and that’s  _ disgusting! _ ”

“You  _ what?! _ ” XR gags and rolls back. “Ugh, Ty, my man, you can _ not _ just out and say things like that. Really, I don’t know why I don’t just leave you here and go find help on my own.”

“Why  _ don’t _ you?” Ty frowns. “When you clearly don’t want to be around me to start with.”

“I don’t know!” XR shouts. “You— You— You terrify me, let’s just say that. I could say something worse, but that’s good enough. We don’t know how many more of those moon rocks are out there, and I’m terrified we’ll run into one while I’m out alone with you and that you won’t be able to control yourself again and—! And why am I even telling you this?!” XR rolls up next to Ty and plops down next to him, arms crossed and glaring at the ground opposite Ty.

Ty sighs and rests his head on the tree behind him. The two of them sit in silence for a short while before Ty opens up his wrist communicator. “Still no dice,” he says.

“Thought so,” XR grumbles in return.

“......So. You, uh... Dealt with NOS-4-A2 a lot then, huh?”

XR winces. “Uh... Yeah. I— I probably was the....  _ First _ to... Was definitely his favorite chew toy, in any case.”

“It’s...” Ty pinches the bridge of his nose and breathes in deep. “It’s.... scary, isn’t it? Being under his control. Having that voice in your head telling you what to do and not giving you much of a choice to say no...”

“Oh, what would you know?” XR asks. “You— I mean...” XR turns his head enough to glance sideways at Ty, and he looks away when he sees Ty looking back at him. “You...  _ do _ know... You do know, don’t you? Because of what... what  _ he _ did when he...? And you...? And...”

Ty nods. “Yeah...”

“I... never really knew anyone else who...  _ went through _ that kind of thing.” XR scowls. “I’m not exactly the average case for robots programming wise. No one knows just what the LGMs did during that whole Uni-Mind thing. Even XL is programmed differently than me. That’s something we can tell but never talk about. No other robots who NOS-4-A2 bit knows what it’s like. They just shut down and didn’t even know what was happening until it was over.”

“It’s like you’re dreaming,” Ty says. “But you know you’re dreaming but still can’t do anything to stop it, so you just let it happen until something sparks to motivate you to fight back.”

“Yeah!” XR nods enthusiastically. “And it’s like... it stops you from thinking you have a choice so you just roll with it even though you know you’re hurting people!”

“And it gives you positive reinforcement to listen, so you feel better about following orders...”

“Which makes you feel more like trash when you finally break free and realize it was all a trick and none of it was true!”

“You understand!” Ty grins. “I’ve been trying to get all this across to Dr. Animus for ages, but ugh, that guy is the  _ worst _ . He rather just turn my experiences into a paper on robotic psychology or something.”

“I know, right?” XR laughs. “I never even bothered trying to talk to him about any of this! Not like most folks think robotic psychology is real anyway.”

“You know, I...” Ty shrugs. “I mean, if you ever want to talk about this more... I wouldn’t mind having someone who actually knows at least part of what I been through.”

“I—” XR shakes his head. “I mean... Maybe, but...” He taps his arm repeatedly. “Tell you what. XL, the other Star Command robots, and I spend Friday nights together doing whatever. Talking, watching movies, playing cards, whatever. Promise not to bring in any Canis Lunis moon rocks, and I’ll vouch for you as an honorary robot. Savy SL-2 out on the Junior Space Rangers already is an honorary robot too, though she isn’t supposed to show up because Junior Space Rangers have a curfew. Not that that stops her.” He grins. “You’d like her. She hates NOS-4-A2 just as much as you and I do.”

Ty hums. “I think I just might show up if my shift allows it.” He looks down at when his wrist starts beeping, and he opens up his wrist communicator. “Go for Parsec.”

“Ty!” Buzz calls from over the speaker. “We just got communications back up. Is everything alright?”

“I have a twisted ankle and need medical assistance. XR is keeping an eye on things so that we don’t get attacked by any Mardula Mud Worms in the meantime.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about any Mud Worms anymore. But sit tight and we’ll be out to help you soon.”

“I’m counting on it. Over and out.” He shuts the communicator and looks down at XR. “Well... Thanks, XR. It’s... It’s good knowing there’s someone out there who understands.”

XR smiles, though he still avoids looking at Ty. “Just don’t try and eat me again.”

He smirks. “No promises.”

“Ugh!” XR shoves Ty but is clearly trying not to laugh. “You’re the worst!”


End file.
